Looking to pickup my first Festool item, a dust extractor

[saabracer23]

Hello all, I am looking to get a hepa dust extractor and I was looking at makita, Bosch, Dewalt, and festool. After much reading it seems the festool is the one to go with. I do have a wood shop in which it’ll be used, I have a cordless Makita track saw as well as several other tools.  The makita ands Bosch looked good as they were a little cheaper.  I’d prefer to spend as little money on this as possible.

So here is the reason I’m buying it. My wife wants the concrete floors in our finished basement to be ground down and polished.  We have a friend that does this type of concrete work for a living. He told me he could bring the grinders and polishers needed, but I needed to pick up a hepa dust extractor to keep it clean.  I’ve been looking for one anyways.

I’ve looked at the CT 26 E, the CT 36 E and the CT 36 AC.  Can I get away with doing the concrete and not buying the AC? I’ve read it’s more for AC, but connections aren’t great. Also between the 26 and 36, what do most folks feel is the better size to have?

By the way, this will be the one and only concrete job it will see and then will be used with wood for the rest of its life. There is a few hundred square feet of concrete to grind and polish though.
Thank you,
Dan

 

[luvmytoolz]

I ground down large sections of a driveway using a Makita PS5000C grinder with the integrated dust shroud, using my 40+ year old Festo SR5E, and there was not a spec of dust escaping. Obviously the better quality model extractors are ideal, but really as long as you have a decent dust shroud on the grinder, any of the Festool ones will suffice.

So I'd look at the long term requirements to drive which one you get, not so much just what this job would need.

 

[saabracer23]

Thank you for the response, I basically just wanted to make sure the lower models could handle the one time job without being harmed or doing it poorly in the process. So I guess for me that would eliminate the “AC” model as it seems most are not fans of the hose connections or such for attaching tools, it would seem the “E” is more user friendly.

So I guess what I’d like to hear is the opinions of the 36L vs the 26L. I’m almost afraid the 48 would be too big, reading the dimensions it seems enormous.  It looks like they have the same specs as far as suction goes. Is there any advantage of the 36 over the 26 other than having to empty it less often?

Anyone get the 36L and wished they had gotten the 26L or vise versa? Kinda stuck on which size to grab.

Dan

 

[woodferret]

Heh, I thought a bricked MIDI bag full of drywall dust was bad...  do you really want to lift 26/36L of rock?

 

[luvmytoolz]

I have a 36 and a few mini's/midi's, if I had to stick with one I'd go the 36. Buy the long life bag at some point, and go longer without emptying.

If you're using it for woodworking, get a Dust Deputy, and barely ever empty the dusty again!

 

[leakyroof]

Thank you for the response, I basically just wanted to make sure the lower models could handle the one time job without being harmed or doing it poorly in the process. So I guess for me that would eliminate the “AC” model as it seems most are not fans of the hose connections or such for attaching tools, it would seem the “E” is more user friendly.

So I guess what I’d like to hear is the opinions of the 36L vs the 26L. I’m almost afraid the 48 would be too big, reading the dimensions it seems enormous.  It looks like they have the same specs as far as suction goes. Is there any advantage of the 36 over the 26 other than having to empty it less often?

Anyone get the 36L and wished they had gotten the 26L or vise versa? Kinda stuck on which size to grab.

Dan

I have both. My 36 is the Auto Cleaner Model.  IF, and this is IF, you plan to ever go up and down stairs with your Vac, you'd want the smaller 26. If however, you don't think the Dust Extractor is ever going to leave your shop, then get the 36 unless you want to store your Vac in a space that's too tight to handle the taller 36L models.
Sometimes people build clever nooks to house their Vacs in a small shop-  I don't know how much room you are working with, or do you plan to roll your Vac TO the work, versus working next to , or on, a Workbench with the Vac right there?
  My 26 lives 95% of its time next to my workbench, catching Miter Saw dust, and sometimes Sander dust

 

[saabracer23]

I have posted a couple of times and for whatever reason my posts never appeared. Hopefully this one sticks. I really appreciate everybody’s response and suggestions to this, it helped me to immediately eliminate the midi. I purchased the CT26E, thought on it for about two hours and then went to cancel my order.  I saw that the CT36E was literally only an inch or two larger in one dimension and weighs less than 2 pounds more. So I ordered the CT36E, received it on Saturday and super happy with it. I can see why there are super fans of Festool.  While I was at it I ordered the Bluetooth module for it and that’s really nice to have a power switch at the tool on the hose. I’m a 6’3” 240 pound person, so taking it up and down the stairs isn’t really a task, but filled with dust I’m sure it will be.

My plan for the concrete: I’ll use this dust extractor, I have a Bosch hose that fits it perfectly (that way the cloth Festool hose doesn’t get all dirty with concrete) and the Bosch hose will go into my Dust Deputy cyclone which is connected to a 10” diameter, 3-1/2 foot tall pipe with caps on it and it will be strapped to a hand truck.  Hopefully with that the CT36E won’t see too much concrete dust.  Then it’ll be delegated to the woodshop for tools like the miter saw, sanders, and track saw as well as cleaning the cars.  Thank you again.

Dan

 

[Coen]

Depending on how strong and long one is, a full 26 is already nasty to carry on stairs. Better buy a second one, like MIDI I for that.
It's not just the weight but also the size.

 

[leakyroof]

Depending on how strong and long one is, a full 26 is already nasty to carry on stairs. Better buy a second one, like MIDI I for that.
It's not just the weight but also the size.

" a full 26 is already nasty to carry on stairs."  Oh yes-  [sad] [sad] [big grin] [big grin]

 

[jronman]

I went with the CT48 without the AutoClean (AutoClean was not available for it yet). I have been happy with my decision. Do I wish I would have gone smaller? I do not. I am very happy with the extra size. If you feel as though the extra size is too much for stairs, there is always the option to unlatch the motor and just carry the bin. I would stay way from the Midi, Mini, 15, and 25. The power rating is less than the bigger models (CT 26, 36, 36 AC, 48, and 48 AC). Here is an article from Festool about the recent Silica guidelines that might be good to look at before you buy a vac. I saw according to the article you can swap out an automatic filter cleaning feature for a cyclone. You will see some performance drop when using a cyclone which could reduce the size of grinder you can use. I also saw it shows what respirator is needed to use too.https://www.festoolusa.com/knowledge/osha

 

[Coen]

[...]I would stay way from the Midi, Mini, 15, and 25. The power rating is less than the bigger models (CT 26, 36, 36 AC, 48, and 48 AC). [...]

That was years ago. Back in ~2012 the Mini and Midi got a motor upgrade.

If you compare the Midi I to CTL 26; Both are 1200W, both are max 24 kPa and while the smaller ones are 3.9 m3 / min, the smaller ones are... 3.7; not really a significant difference.
The filter area however is quite a lot different. The smaller ones will bog down sooner.